Nicholas van Hoogstraten's dream to build a palatial home that would last 2,000 years is standing half-finished in a corner of East Sussex.

The copper-domed temple, once described by The Observer as "a cross between Ceausescu's palace and a new civic crematorium" remains half-built, with little prospect of ever being completed.

His dream started to become a reality when the foundations for Hamilton Palace, destined to become a monument to his success, were laid in 1985.

The palace is deteriorating

No further work has been carried out since and the future of the Buckingham Palace-inspired structure, funded with a reputed �24m of van Hoogstraten's fortune, is in doubt.

He made local enemies long before the first brick was laid, when in 1977, he bought up and demolished the Victorian house standing on the site at Uckfield.

Hamilton Palace was named after the capital of Bermuda, where van Hoogstraten profited from land deals at the expense of his tenants, whom he called "filth".

It was destined to be the most impressive manor house built in the 20th century, with solid marble floors and oak doors.

"Riff raff"

The plans included two floors, with a glut of rooms large enough to house his art collection, which is said to include works by Holbein, Turner and Constable, as well as Louis XV and XVI furniture.

Van Hoogstraten even designed a mausoleum in the east wing so that he could spend 5,000 years sealed in an impregnable tomb, locked away from the "riff raff" as he frequently referred to the rest of society.

The half-mile-long vanity palace, which deteriorates daily, with rain pouring through the unfinished roof has become Britain's biggest ever folly.